Dehradun: Panchayati Rule and Gender Awareness Training Institute (PRAGATI), Dehradun organised a meeting of Australian High Commissioner, The Hon. Barry O’Farrell with 11 Elected Female Municipal Councillors in relation to a capacity building programme for more than 650 women with the support of Australian High Commission and DAP that was successfully implemented by PRAGATI during Dehradun Municipal Corporation Election 2018-19.
Australian High Commissioner, The Hon. Barry O’Farrell said earlier he was the Chief Minister of New South Wales, Sydney and he was happy that the capacity building programme was well implemented in Uttarakhand.
Post Sharing his experience, Mr. Ajit Singh, Ex-Deputy State Election Commissioner reminded the women that if they have not submitted the details of their expenditure on Election campaigns must submitted, else they will be debarred for six years from contesting in any poll.
Josphin Singh, Vice Chairperson PRAGATI suggested that since everything has been digitalised, there is a need for these women to know how to access various government portals to access various schemes and announcements, a computer literacy programme should be organised for the elected female representatives in order to make the elected female parshads smarter like the Smart City of Dehradun.
Also similar capacity building project should be implemented during the elections due in 2024 for the Gram Panchayats. Experience sharing done by Anita Singh, Promila Kohli, Meera Kathayat and Sushila Rawat and Interaction with other beneficiaries was done by the High Commissioner in which he asked what are the issues shared by their voters to them and whether men vote for women candidates. Municipal Councillor Vimla Gaud, Devika Rani, Veena Raturi, Meenakshi Maurya also attended the meeting. In the end Australian High Commissioner presented a book as a token of Appreciation to PRAGATI Team.
